As the Internet has evolved, various schemes to take advantage of its capabilities have been proposed. A typical example of the various schemes is a content delivery network scheme. Here, the content delivery network scheme will be described below.
In a case that the content delivery network scheme is used, if a User Equipment (UE) requests a content, a node which caches the content should be searched. In order to search the node which caches the content, a Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP) redirection scheme is used, and the HTTP redirection scheme will be described below.
If the UE uses the HTTP redirection, the UE transmits an HTTP request message to a related node. The HTTP request message indicates that a subject that transmits the HTTP request message requests a content. After receiving the HTTP request message, the related node determines whether the related node caches the content, and transmits an HTTP redirection message to the UE which requested the content if the related node does not cache the content. The HTTP redirection message indicates that the UE will request the content through other node if the subject that transmits the HTTP redirection message does not cache the content, and includes information on a server which is connected to the node which transmits the HTTP redirection message. The information on the server may include information such as an Internet Protocol (IP) address of the server and the like, and a detailed description thereof will be omitted herein.
The UE detects the information on the server included in the HTTP redirection message which is received from the related node, and searches the server corresponding to the detected information on the server again. The UE accesses the searched server. The UE transmits an HTTP request message which requests the content of the accessed server again.
The UE repeats the aforementioned operations, i.e., an operation of transmitting an HTTP request message to a specific node, an operation of receiving an HTTP redirection message from the specific node, an operation of accessing a related server by detecting information on the related server included in the HTTP redirection message, and an operation of transmitting an HTTP request message to the accessed server again, until the UE detects a node which caches the requested content.
The related node which caches the content transmits the content to the UE through the aforementioned operation, so the UE may receive the content which the related node transmits.
If the HTTP redirection scheme is used, a process of establishing a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) connection should be performed before related nodes transmit an HTTP message. That is, whenever accessing a new host using the HTTP redirection scheme, the new host and the UE establish a new TCP connection, and the UE may transmit an HTTP request message after establishing the new TCP connection.
This TCP connection establishment with the new host becomes overhead to both the mobile content network and the UE, and results in service delay. More particularly, if files which have a relatively small capability, such as an image, are transmitted, the overhead due to the TCP connection establishment is greater than due to actual data transmission.
Thus, there is a need for a scheme of receiving a content without a new TCP connection establishment whenever a UE searches a new host in a mobile content network.
The above information is presented as background information only to assist with an understanding of the present disclosure. No determination has been made, and no assertion is made, as to whether any of the above might be applicable as prior art with regard to the present disclosure.